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Thursday, December 22, 2011

What's In the Box?

Actually, it happens a lot. I'll be writing, making good progress, when all of a sudden I'll come to a roadblock and the roll I'm on comes to a screeching halt.

For example, a character opens a box and says, "If you're going to join the search, you'll need these." But I have no idea what is in the box. I just know that whatever it is, they need it.

I know I could just skip to the next part and start writing and eventually it will come to me, but for some reason, most of the time, I just stop writing for awhile and worry about what is in that box. That stupid box taunts me and keeps me awake at night.

When you're co-authoring something, the solution is easy. Let someone else take a whack at it. While writing The Parting Gift I would leave holes and move on. I knew that if I couldn't fill in the gaps, Rachel would. But leaving holes when I'm writing on my own makes me nervous. Not sure why, but I just gotta know:

5 comments:

I hear you, Leah. That happened to me yesterday. It wasn't a box, but a huge question that hadn't occurred to me that I couldn't answer. I am currently staring at my giant, bright pink notecard with the question written in large capitals...instead of writing.